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Liang beats Swail 13-12 in Crucible classic

28/04/2008

Liang Wenbo secured a spot in this year's Snooker World Championship quarter-finals after a tense 13-12 win over Joe Swail.

The result of the classic Crucible encounter means that Liang will become the first Chinese player to appear in this round, though judging by the strength of the competition in this year's event, he won't be the last.

After the 21-year-old had appeared to have taken an unassailable 12-8 lead, Swail showed the resolve needed to bring the match back to 12-11 and then hit a remarkable break of 66 to bring it level and force a deciding frame.

The final frame will go down as one of the most enthralling ever witnessed at Sheffield, with both players having the opportunity to win and, even when Liang led by 27 points with the same amount left on the table, he failed to get out of a clever snooker, and he then went on to sink the green when going for the yellow.

Swail failed to capitalise, however, missing a relatively easy brown ball to give the Chinese player victory.

Liang will now face Ronnie O'Sullivan in his quarter-final, with the Leicester-born 'Rocket' playing some of the best snooker of his career and winning a cheque for £157,000 for his maximum break.